NYU’s ITP

Well, what started as a service for interactive mobile social networks grew up a lot today; that’s right, Dodgeball, the little project that could borne of NYU’s ITP program got bought by Google today for an undisclosed sum of money (we’ll just assume they’ll be able to pay off those student loans). For those of you who don’t remember Dodgeball, they were started as a service wherein a registered phone can “check-in”, and anyone in your registered circle of friends (or their friends as well) in the area will be notified of your proximity (and vice versa), so you can, you know, do lunch or whatever people do. It pretty much goes without saying that this is just begging for use with Google maps mobile and Google local (why do they keep building technology to make it easier to get out of the office and have a social life, anyway?), not to mention the obligatory Orkut integration we’re likely to see.

Now quick Dodgeball guys, cash out now and live like kings in the Balkans forever!

Yep, along with all of your friends, you signed up for Dodgeball, the new service for cellphones mentioned a few weeks back that can tell you which of your friends are within a ten block radius of where you are (“it’s like Friendster for cellphones!”).

Then you got bored of it and stopped using it almost immediately. But, guess what now Dodgeball is expanding its original environs and is available in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, and Philadelphia, but as is the hallmark of any hot trend, once it leaves New York and hits the provinces, it’s all over! NOT.